This wonderful book tells the story of Saburo, third-born son of a Taiwanese politician. It’s a tale of family conflict that begins against a rich backdrop of life in Taiwan in the 1940s and ’50s.

It begins, in fact, during a World War II air raid. The Japanese have controlled the island of Taiwan, off the coast of China, for 50 years — that’s why Saburo has a Japanese name. Now the Americans are bombing and strafing shops, fields and schools.

Fleeing from the American planes, young Saburo meets Yoshiko, the girl he will long for — and the one his eldest brother, Kazuo, will eventually try to take. The brothers’ rivalry is already deep-seated: their parents have always favored their first-born, giving him not just attention and love, but far more to eat. And the competition continues to shape the boys’ lives, even as the war ends, the Japanese leave and the ragtag Nationalist Chinese march in to take their places.

Though the Nationalists and their leader, Chiang Kai-shek, get good press in America for their opposition to the Communists who have taken China, in Taiwan they are seen as little more than a band of thieves and opportunists. But their control of the island is as absolute — and undemocratic — as the Communists’ hold on the mainland, and those who oppose them face imprisonment, even death.

The novel’s political story is intensely personal, as years pass and Saburo moves to America to try building a new life as an engineer. Nationalist agents dog his steps even as his parents back in Taiwan order him to become a pharmacist so he can return and help out in the family business.

Wu tells her tale through Saburo’s eyes, and as we listen, his emotions become our own. She’s aided in no small measure by Shih, an accomplished actor whose hint of a Chinese accent varies to make Saburo and other Taiwanese distinct personalities, while characters from the United States are equally varied and authentically American.

Set on Martha’s Vineyard, this fast-paced novel of political intrigue follows a disgraced Indian Army captain who has fled to America and found work as a caretaker of millionaires’ mansions.

Ranjit Singh just wants to build a new life with his wife and young daughter. But he gets involved with a U.S. senator’s wife and finds himself in the path of ambitious, ruthless people who want something he has — even though he doesn’t know he has it.

In the wrong hands this might be little more than steamy soap opera, but author Ahmad — raised in India, educated in the United States — makes it also a meditation on fame, wealth, and the differing responses of American and Indian culture to money and position.

Dastor, a British actor born in Mumbai, does a lovely job with the voices of Ranjit and other Indian characters. His Americans all have the same flat accent, from Vineyard natives to the Dorchester-raised senator to a neighbor of Ranjit’s who comes from Brazil. But there’s enough variation in timbre and tone that this doesn’t distract from Ahmad’s good storytelling.